Rain on Me
by othlover2007
Summary: How does Brooke react when she loses her best friend? This is the story about how she deals with the pain of it all and her interactions with the people that help her through it. Baley and others.
1. Chapter 1

**So this is my second fanfic. This idea came to me in a dream and I decided to pursue it. I know I'm writing another story, but that one's going to be finished soon, and I can focus on both for the time being. This story takes place sometime after season four. I hate the fact that Haley got pregnant, so that's not going to be in this story. Everything else is pretty much the same.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or its characters, but I do own this story.**

It was a typical summer's day in the town of Tree Hill, North Carolina. The kind of day that began at sunrise with an all-time temperature high, and did not drop one degree until midnight. She was lying on the roof of her house and gazing at the beautiful purple-red effect the sun was causing the sky as it set on a distant hill. The clouds were dancing over the green hills as the sun rapidly disappeared.

Watching this was a favorite pastime of Brooke's. She used to sit on her grandfather's porch and play cards with him for hours, sipping lemonade until the sun went down. It was one of her fondest childhood memories and she missed him dearly. He was more of a father-figure than her real dad ever was, who moved to California with her mom, leaving Brooke behind. This made her angry, but at the same time she was glad they left because all they did when they were around was resent her.

Being on the roof was her favorite place to be in the world, because it was somewhere she could be where nobody would find her. It was Brooke's safe haven and she did most of her thinking up there. Then finally, just as she closed her eyes, she could feel it. The cold breeze swept over her and she felt relief; the storm was coming.

Brooke enjoyed the rain because it was a reminder that she was really alive. She just simply loved the feel of the drops as they made contact with her skin. To her, it was comfort, and replaced the tears that she forced not to shed. After the rain soaked through the first layer of her clothes, she climbed down the ladder and continued to dance in the rain on her front lawn. When she heard a car pull up in her driveway, she did not check to see it was. Instead, she tilted her head back, opened her mouth, and stuck out her tongue in a childish manner in order to catch some of the rain drops.

"Brooke, what the hell are you doing out here?" she heard someone call out, but chose to ignore it. She seemed to be very good at blocking out people's voices lately. It was only when she felt a small hand grasp onto hers that she realized who was standing next to her. She shut her eyes tightly and lowered her head. She took a deep breath and opened them to look at her friend.

"Brooke, what are you doing in the rain?" asked Haley. "You're going to catch pneumonia."

Brooke couldn't respond. She seemed to not be able to talk much lately as well. She wasn't hungry and couldn't sleep, and she remembered this feeling all too much; the time her grandfather died. But there was someone to help her through all of that pain and heartache, and that person was her best friend, Peyton. Now that she was gone, she felt completely lost and scared.

Brooke lowered her head some more and stared at her feet. She also took her hand back and folded her arms as if she was protecting herself.

Haley let out a sigh. "Come on. Let's get you inside and warmed up." She put out an arm to wrap around her friend, but Brooke retaliated and stepped back. "Okay. Well, I'll tell you what. I'm gonna go inside and make some hot chocolate for us. I brought a movie and some pop corn. Figured we could have a girl's night or something. Just come in when you're ready." She gave Brooke one last concerned look, turned around, and entered the house.

Brooke kept staring blankly at her feet and wrapped her arms tighter around her body. It took a lot of effort to hold back the tears she wanted to shed, but she knew she had to be strong. That's how Peyton would have wanted her to be. She walked up to the stoop of the house and sat on the topmost stair. The rain was comforting her more successfully than her closest friends were. The rain never talked to you or tried to understand how you felt; it just made contact with your skin, and with each drop made you feel better.

After the pop corn was in the microwave and the tea kettle was almost to a boil, Haley opened the door to check on Brooke. It made her so sad to see her friend so broken.

"Brooke, did you wanna come inside?" she asked hesitantly.

Brooke just shook her head. She couldn't remember the last time she spoke and didn't exactly feel like breaking the streak she had going. Then a memory came flooding back to her. It had been weeks since she last said a word to anyone; the speech she delivered at Peyton's funeral reverberated in her head and Lucas' cruel words were still ringing in her ears.

_"All of us here were brought together today to mourn the loss of someone we knew. Someone we loved, someone we cared about, or someone we just liked saying 'hi' to on a daily basis." She paused to sigh and took a deep breath._

_"It's not exactly easy for me to come up here right now and talk to all of you about her. I miss her every second of the day, and don't know how I'm going to go on living without her. I mean, before this happened, I used to think everything happened for a reason. Whether it was good or bad, every moment meant something because I learned something from it. I would always look at the positive things in life, like how lucky I was to have such a great best friend, or how lucky I was to even be fully healthy. But right now, I've completely lost faith. I can't understand why God would take such an innocent soul and what his reasoning was to do so. It's not fair. Peyton Elizabeth Sawyer was the best friend I ever __had,__ and she taught me more about life than my own two parents. It's not fair that the car that hit us had a drunk driver behind the wheel and it's not fair that she was in the passenger's seat instead of me. I'll never shake the image out of my head of that red truck coming at us, and then waking up in the hospital without my best friend by my side. I wish the driver of that truck was alive right now so he could see the damage he had done, and then spend the rest of his live in jail." __She paused again, this time out of rage rather than sadness. She closed her eyes tightly, drew in a deep steady breath, __opened__ her eyes, and continued._

_"I would like to ask you all to take a moment of silence and just remember all __of the good things about her." She bowed her head and waited a minute before speaking again. "Thank you all for coming here today. I can only pray that she is happy up in heaven with her mother, and can only hope to even be half as strong as she was to get through this. Thank you, again." She stepped down from the podium and sat down in a chair in the first row next to Haley._

_Haley put an arm around Brooke and said, "You know, you are as strong as Peyton, because you had enough courage to go up in front of all these people today."_

_Brooke nodded and looked Haley in the eye, chewing on her lip so hard that she almost drew blood, trying to hold __back her tears. She noticed that her speech brought tears to Haley's eyes and now wanted to leave more than ever. She was sick of hurting the people she loved.__"Yeah.__ I know. Listen, I'm __gonna__ go. I can't be here right now."_

_"She would have wanted you to be here though."_

_"I know. And I am here. I even said a speech in front of people for her, but she would understand that I need to go."_

_"Okay, well do you want me to come with you?"_

_"No, no, no. I'll be fine. I'm strong, right?" she forced out a smile._

_"Okay, well if you need anything, call me okay? You worry me."_

_"I'm fine, really. I just need to go." She got up and crouched down so she wasn't blocking anyone's view while walking past them. She kept saying polite __"sorry's"__ until she got to the end of the row and broke out into a fast paced walk for the back door. After__ she pushed through the double doors she collapsed next to the building. She sat upright against the brick and __buried__ her face in her hands. She wanted to cry so much, but at the same time she couldn't. Crying never solved anything. All it did was give her a headache, a red nose, and puffy eyes, which made her feel worse. Then she heard a familiar voice and looked up._

_"Hey, Brooke, fancy meeting you here," said Lucas with a stern look._

_"Oh…hey," she choked out._

_"__How come__ you're not inside?"_

_"I should be asking you the same thing."_

_Lucas was angry that Peyton was dead and he needed someone to blame. He didn't mean to, but he chose to take it out on Brooke. "Well, Haley told me you left and I wanted to know why. Couldn't bring yourself to face something that was your fault, huh?"_

_"What? It wasn't my __fau__—_

_"Oh, it wasn't? Because from the sounds of it, you were driving the car and Peyton was the one killed. You just couldn't seem to face everyone in that church, could you? Knowing that they all knew you were the reason their friend or family member was dead."_

_Brooke stood up and looked Lucas straight in the eye. "You are an ass hole and you never deserved me __OR Peyton__. She was too good for you and if she's watching this, she's probably pissed at you too."_

_"Hey, I'm not the one who killed her, now am I?" Lucas felt the sting of Brooke's slap and brought his hand to his face to feel the damage. It was all red and throbbing._

_"Never speak to me again." With this, Brooke turned on her heel and stormed towards her house._

"Brooke?" Haley was waving her hand in front of her friend's face but she just kept still and staring blankly into the distance. "Brooke, please come inside," she pleaded, and put her hand out in front of her for Brooke to take.

Brooke snapped out of the trance she was in and felt how cold she really was. She looked at her misty-eyed friend and took her hand to help her up. Haley led her into the house and shut the door behind them.

"Okay, I made some pop corn and hot chocolate, and the movie is about to start. Do you want any?" asked Haley.

Brooke shook her head and sat down on the couch.

Haley sighed and sat down next to her friend. "Ya know, Cheery, it's okay to be sad about what happened. You haven't said a word since the funeral, and you're really worrying me. I just want you to talk to me. I want to understand what you're going through."

"No one will understand what I'm dealing with. And don't call me Cheery. I hate cheerleading."

"Sorry, I—hey, you're talking again. That's already an improvement."

"Whoop de doo. Where's my gold star?" she asked sarcastically.

"Brooke, everybody misses her. We're all trying to cope, but in order to move on, you need to cope too."

"I am coping."

"Really? How's that? By not talking to anyone? Not sleeping or eating, and dancing in the freezing rain? I mean, you haven't answered my calls at all this week. I need you Brooke and I miss Peyton too. Nathan's been a mess and I've been trying to stay strong and help everyone out, but I'm just tired of being the strong one, Brooke. That's your job, and I just…" she choked out her last words "…I just need you." Haley let the tears fall freely from her face, but tried to wipe them away quickly.

"I'm sorry, Haley. I'm so sorry." Brooke put her arms around her friend and hugged her for what felt like an eternity. She had to admit, it felt good to have another person's comfort again, but she would still refuse to cry.

"Oh, Brooke, I should be the one comforting you, not the other way around," she said between sobs.

"It's okay Hales. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you when you needed me." She pulled away from the hug and wiped Haley's tears away.

"Brooke, how come you're not crying?"

"I haven't cried since…well…in the hospital…I don't wanna talk about it, can we just watch the movie?"

"Of course." Haley picked the remote up and pressed play.

"Um, I'll be right back, I just need to use the bathroom."

"Okay, hurry up though, the movie's gonna start." Haley finished wiping away the last of her tears and thought about all the good times her, Peyton, and Brooke shared. She missed those times.

---

**Good? Bad? Let me know what you think because I love feedback. There will be more chapters to come, so sit tight.**


	2. Apathy

**Hi again. Thank you for actually going on to the next chapter, because it means you have some interest in the story. Haha. Another thing I forgot to mention was that considering this takes place in the summer after their senior year, Peyton and Brooke ****did not go to California.**** And Brooke was never kicked out of her house. Her parents left her there by herself.**

**I do not own One Tree Hill or its characters, but I do own this story.**

When Brooke entered the bathroom, the first thing she saw was her reflection in the mirror. She had to admit that she looked terrible. Her hair was up in a messy bun, her skin was pale, and there were dark circles under her eyes. She also looked thinner because she wasn't eating much lately.

She turned the faucet on, bent down, and splashed some cold water on her face, trying to shake the memories of that terrible night. After wiping her face with a towel, Brooke opened up the cabinet and started searching through the bottles. She found an orange one that read "Take one pill by mouth per night, before bed." Her mom's sleeping pills.

"Brooke, all you all right in there?" Haley asked through the door after knocking lightly.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She opened the bottle and swallowed one of the pills. She hadn't been sleeping much, so maybe this would help. She looked back at the door, knowing Haley was still on the other side, then looked back at the bottle and swallowed two more pills.

"Brooke?"

She could already feel the effects of the drugs kicking in. Just as Brooke was about to put the bottle back, she saw the door open. She opened up one of the drawers, threw it in, and grabbed a brush.

Haley peered around the edge of the door. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be? Just brushing my hair." She forced a smile and held up the brush.

"Well, I thought something was wrong." She looked at Brooke skeptically.

"Everything's fine." Brooke put the brush on the counter and walked towards the door. As soon as she got to Haley, she became very light headed and felt her legs give out.

Haley caught Brooke just as she started falling. Maybe she shouldn't have taken that many pills.

"Brooke…Brooke…wake up."

She opened her eyes to find herself on the couch and looking up at Haley who looked as if she were about to cry. She let out a moan and looked around the room. "Ugh. What happened?"

"I dunno. You were in the bathroom and when you came out, you just feinted."

"Oh. Yeah, I was really dizzy. I had a really bad headache and must have passed out from it. How long was I out for?"

"Only a couple of minutes. Are you sure you're okay, Brooke? I wanna take you to the hospital to make sure you're not sick or anything."

"Hales. Listen to me. I'm FINE. Everyone keeps asking me if I'm alright, and the truth is, I just don't care. I know you're just trying to help and everything, but you're not gonna understand how I feel, and no one will. I'm sick of it, and that's why I haven't taken any one's calls this week. I have to walk around for the rest of my life knowing I killed someone. And not just anyone, my own God damn best friend."

Haley wrinkled her brow. "I'm sorry. I'm just worried about you, that's all. And it's not your fault, Brooke. It was the guy that decided to drink a lot and then drive home's fault."

"Oh, yeah? That's not what Lucas thinks, and apparently everyone else at the funeral too."

"What!? Why would you think that?"

"I don't have to think it. I know it. Lucas told me it was my fault Peyton's dead because I was driving the car. And ya know what, Hales? I believe it. Maybe if I had been more cautious, I would have seen the car coming. Maybe I could have let her drive, instead of me. Maybe—"

"Stop!" Haley shouted, cutting her off. "Brooke…no one would have seen that coming. The guy ran a red light. Who looks both ways at an intersection, before going through a _green _light. It's not your fault, it's his." It made her angry that Brooke kept blaming herself for what happened.

Lucas' words were still ringing in Brooke's ears. "But Lucas said…"

"Oh, who gives a shit what Lucas thinks. He's been a jerk ever since...the accident." She paused and took a breath, calming herself of the rage that had built up inside her. "He was just looking for someone to blame for what happened."

"It's okay to say she's dead, Hales. You don't have to keep referring to it as 'the accident.' I'm not a child."

"I know, but saying it will mean she's really gone."

"Just accept it and move on. It's what I'm doing." She started getting light headed again, and assumed it was from the pills. She brought her hand to her head and started massaging her temple.

"Brooke…are you…"

"I'm FINE. I'm just tired, that's all."

"Okay. Well, can I stay here, tonight? I told Nathan I was out for the night, so he had a couple of the guys over for poker."

"Yeah, sure. Wait, would one of those guys happen to be Lucas?"

Haley bit her lip. "I think so."

"Yeah, looks like he's having a tough time getting over this. He's out playing poker, having a grand ol' time."

"Lucas is just trying to go back to the way things were before. He's coping by hanging out with his friends, and he's letting them help him, Brooke. Sure, he's a little more temperamental these days, but he's dealing with it. You should do the same. It really helps."

"I don't need help. What's the past is in the past and there's nothing I can do about that now. All I can do is move forward and hope for the best. I don't think crying is going to help the situation, so I choose not to. This is me dealing with it."

"Okay."

"So you're finally accepting how I'm dealing with it?"

"I don't approve of it, but I can't stop you."

"Okay. Well, I'm going to sleep now, I'm pretty tired. You can sleep in my bed if you want, it's big enough for the both of us, and I don't want to be a bitch and make you sleep on the couch."

Haley forced a smile. "Sounds great."

Brooke got up and walked up the stairs to her room with Haley in tow. She was dizzy when she got to the hallway and had to support herself with the wall.

"Brooke…"

"I'm fine, Haley. I told you, I'm just tired."

"Okay, okay."

As soon as Brooke got to her room she plopped on her bed and put her head against her pillow.

"You should probably change out of those wet clothes and into some pajamas, Brooke. I'm gonna change in the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Brooke looked down and realized she was still in the same clothes she was in when she was outside. She let out a groan and rolled off the bed and onto the floor. She tried to get up but she was too tired to move. These drugs worked really well, she thought to herself.

Haley came in a few minutes later with the bottle in her hand. "Brooke?"

"Down here," she groaned.

Haley walked around the bed and found Brooke lying on the floor with her face against the ground. "Brooke, did you take these pills?"

"Mhmm."

"How many did you take?"

"A few."

"What were you thinking? It says to only take one."

Brooke's breathing got heavier and she fell asleep.

Haley let out a sigh. "Brooke Davis, what am I gonna do with you?" she said under her breath.

She rolled Brooke onto her back and went over to her closet to find some dry clothes. She picked out a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and changed Brooke into the pajamas. This isn't the first time she's had to do this, either. One night Brooke got too drunk and Haley had to help her change, so she was used to it.

Haley grabbed Brooke's torso and pulled her up onto the bed. After this was done, she turned the light off and collapsed onto her side of the bed. Brooke was curled up into a ball and shivering. Haley put a blanket on her and couldn't help but smile because she knew her friend was happy and dreaming. "Good night, Brooke."

* * *

Thank you for reading. I know it's a lot of just Haley and Brooke right now, but I love the friendship they have. Eventually, the other characters will be involved, and now that I have a laptop, the updating will be more frequent. Please leave feedback, good or bad, I don't care. Next chapter will explain what happened during and after the car accident. I enjoy going back and forth from the past to the present in my stories, explaining more along the way, so if you don't agree with it, then don't read. I just think it keeps the story interesting because you want to keep reading and find out how they actually got to where they were. Thanks again. 


	3. Nightmare

**This story is a flashback, which is actually Brooke's nightmare. Just thought I'd let you know, so you're not too confused. This takes off where the season finale of the fourth season left us. Enjoy reading, and remember to review, even if you hate it.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill or the characters, but I do own this story.**

Lucas and Nathan were playing one-on-one basketball at the rivercourt and everyone was there to cheer them on. Brooke and Peyton were rooting for Lucas.

"Come on, Luke! You can beat him!" Peyton yelled.

Haley looked over at Peyton and smiled. "Nathan, just one more point and you win!"

Nathan looked over to his wife and shot the ball while still looking at her. Lucas jumped to knock it out of the air, but couldn't reach, and the ball kept gliding. After Nathan heard the swish noise he looked over, and sure enough, he made the basket and wont the game.

He ran over to Haley, picked her up in his arms with a hug, and spun around. He gave her a quick kiss, put her back down, and went over to Lucas.

"Hey, good game, man," Lucas complimented.

"You too, big brother," he smiled and shook his hand, pulling into a quick hug.

Peyton, Haley, and Brooke were all laughing on the bleachers and Peyton spoke up. "Hey guys, how about a sleepover at my house, ya know, for old times' sake. We only have a couple of months left before we go to different colleges."

Haley nodded. "Sure, that sounds great. Let me go tell Nathan." She ran over to Nathan and let him know, and then came back to the girls. "Okay, he's letting me have the car, and he's gonna hitch a ride home with Luke."

Peyton looked at Brooke. "Luke drove me here, so looks like I'm riding with you B Davis!" she shouted with sarcastic enthusiasm.

Brooke let out a laugh and they got into the two cars. She stuck her head out the window and yelled to Haley, "Hey! Follow me!" Once she heard a response from Haley, she turned on the radio. "You still listening to your crappy music?"

"Brooke, crappy to you, is anything that's not on the radio."

"So?"

Peyton let out a giggle and buckled herself in.

Brooke fastened her seatbelt as well and she left the parking lot with Haley in tow.

A couple of minutes passed of Brooke driving lazily down the road and the girls were in conversation, remembering the time they had a sleepover with Anna there, and how they all got into a fight. Brooke came up to the street that Peyton used to drive through, speeding through all of the red lights, and defying death during their sophomore year.

Brooke hated when Peyton used to do that, but it was her way of dealing with her mom's death, so she couldn't stop her. She looked over at Peyton, who realized what street they were on, and sunk down in her seat.

"Hey, I can take the back roads if—"

"No, it's fine," Peyton cut her off. "Just drive."

Brooke nodded and the lights on the street turned green, and she leisurely drove through them. Coming up on the last light, Brooke heard a scream.

"Brooke!" Peyton yelled, clutching Brooke's hand and bracing herself with the other.

Brooke didn't have time to swerve out of the way, she only had time to see the headlights of the red truck connect with the passenger's side of her car.

Brooke faded in and out of consciousness. One moment, she was looking at Peyton and asking her if she was okay, and the next, she was being pulled from the wreckage.

She remembered laying on her back on the cold ground and looking up at Haley, but she couldn't hear a word she was saying because her ears were ringing. She also remembered seeing an ambulance come and saw Peyton on a stretcher. Each blink lasted five minutes, and every time she opened her eyes, she was in a new place.

The next blink seemed to last a couple of hours, though, because when she woke up this time, she was in a hospital bed. There was an immense amount of pain rushing through her body and her vision was blurry through the thick tears that had formed.

Brooke felt a grip on her hand and looked up to see that it was Haley. "Where's…where's Peyton?" she choked out, clenching her teeth to fight back the pain.

Haley looked at Brooke with such a sorrowful face, closed her eyes, and shook her head.

"Where… what… _where's_ Peyton, Haley?" She pushed herself up now and tried to get out of bed, battling the pain.

"Lay back down, Brooke. You're not supposed to get out of bed."

"But I wanna see Peyton."

"Brooke…she…"

"No."

"The doctor's did all they could. It was too late," Haley cried, remembering how awful it was to see her friends' car get hit.

Brooke felt a rush of guilt, shock, and pain all at the same time. She just wanted it to end. Part of her even wished she died in the crash as well.

"No!...No!...Peyton! No!" Brooke kept shouting in her sleep.

Haley awoke to Brooke shivering so much that the bed was shaking. "Brooke, what's wrong?" she asked, and then realized she was still sleeping.

Haley placed a cautious hand on Brooke's shoulder, but Brooke pushed it away and kept yelling for Peyton. "Brooke..." she put her hand on Brooke's shoulder again, this time giving her a slight shake. "Wake up hunny, you're having a nightmare."

Brooke woke up with a deep gasp for breath and stared straight up at the ceiling. The hot tears were streaming down her face and she was still trembling. "Brooke?"

She didn't have to say anything, because Haley knew what she was dreaming about. She couldn't hold back the tears anymore because they already started flowing. Brooke shut her eyes tightly and rolled onto her side, sobbing.

Haley frowned and put a cautious hand on Brooke's shoulder again. She didn't push it away, giving her silent permission to let her help.

Haley moved closer to Brooke and put an arm around her. "Shh…it's okay now."

"No, it's not okay. It's never going to be okay." Brooke rolled back over facing Haley, and gripping her hand tightly. "Haley…" she paused between her sobs to take a breath. "You saved me."

Haley couldn't help but give a small reassuring smile. "I pulled you out of the car, but that was it, really."

"I'm so sorry that I was selfish and thought I was the only one hurting from this. But it was you that had to get us out of the car and wait for the ambulance to come. And it was you that had to sit in the waiting room for hours, only to hear devastating news. And…"

"Brooke, it's okay," Haley said, wiping the tears from her friend's face.

"I guess I forgot what happened that night, because I tried to block it out completely. Did you get to say bye to her?"

Haley went back to holding Brooke's hand, more for her own comfort than anything. "No, she was unconscious too. "

Brooke took a deep breath. "Did you know that her last word was my name?"

"No, I didn't know that."

"Yeah, she tried to warn me about the truck, but it was too late." She started crying again.

"Hunny, come here." She pulled Brooke into a hug and Brooke cried into Haley's chest.

Brooke looked up at Haley for a moment and said, "Thank you for staying with me tonight."

"Don't worry about it." Haley continued holding Brooke until her sobbing went away, and slow steady breathing finally started. Brooke was finally asleep and Haley was extremely tired. She rolled onto her back, and Brooke was still holding onto her for dear life. She smiled at this, and fell asleep instantly.

**Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed the Baley!**


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